B08 Metal Ore Mining

Maxsted hastens BHP exit in retreat from blue chip boards

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 19 : 15-Jan-20

BHP director Lindsay Maxsted will step down later in 2020, after nine years on the board. He was re-elected at BHP’s annual meeting in late 2019, and gave no indication that he intended to retire. Maxsted has declined to comment on the reasons for his impending exit from the board; however, a major BHP shareholder has indicated that they had expected Maxsted to step down in the next year or so given the money-laundering scandal at Westpac, where he has also stepped down. BHP says the timing of Maxsted’s departure is linked to tenure guidelines which suggest that directors should not serve for more than nine years.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Desert wildflower halts lithium mine project

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Original article by
The Australian – Page: 18 : 8-Jan-20

The US subsidiary of Australian-listed Ioneer Limited has agreed to suspend exploration work at a lithium project on federal land in Nevada. This follows concerns that mining would pose a threat to a rare species of desert wildflower called Tiehm’s buckwheat, which is found only in Nevada’s Silver Peak Range. The Center for Biological Diversity had launched legal action against the Trump administration in a bid to stop further exploration at Ioneer’s tenements in order to protect the wildflower. The lawsuit was withdrawn after Ioneer USA agreed to put exploration on hold.

CORPORATES
IONEER LIMITED – ASX INR, CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Glencore considered Fortescue takeover in 2016, but Forrest wasn’t keen

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 13 & 15 : 6-Jan-20

Sources have indicated that Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore held internal talks regarding a potential bid for Fortescue Metals Group in 2016. It is believed that Glencore looked at a possible approach to Fortescue in order to diversify into iron ore and to capitalise on a sharp fall in the price of the steel input at the time. Glencore has declined to comment, while Fortescue CEO Elizabeth Gaines says the company is focused on growing its business. Glencore had previously sought to expand into iron ore in 2014, via a $190bn merger proposal with Rio Tinto.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, GLENCORE PLC, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, COAL AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES LIMITED

Early exit for BHP’s Mackenzie

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 14 : 24-Dec-19

BHP’s outgoing CEO Andrew Mackenzie had previously advised that he will leave the resources giant on 30 June. However, he says the transition to new CEO Mike Henry is ahead of schedule, so he will now depart on 31 March. BHP has advised that Mackenzie will not receive any severance pay or a payment in lieu of notice. Henry, who formally takes the helm on 1 January, is expected to make changes to BHP’s executive leadership team.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

Iron’s endless summer keeps on keeping on

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 43 : 21-Dec-19

Shares in Fortescue Metals Group are trading at an 11-year high, boosted by factors such as continued strong demand for iron ore in China and supply disruptions in Brazil. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto’s shares have regularly traded above $100 in 2019, and the stock has not fallen below $35 in the last decade. Demand for iron ore has defied expectations over the last 10 years. The price of the steel input peaked at almost $US190 per tonne in 2011; its fall to around $US80/tonne in subsequent years prompted some observers to forecast that the iron ore boom was over. However, Australia’s iron ore exports reached a record $77bn in 2018-19 and could top $81bn in 2019-20. Likewise, some experts forecast that China’s annual steel production will exceed one million tonnes for the first time in 2020.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, VALE SA

Gold beats coal as iron ore drives export record

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 13 & 18 : 19-Dec-19

The Department of Industry, Innovation & Science now expects Australia’s resources exports to top $281bn in 2019-20. This is $4bn lower than was forecast in June, although it will still be a new record. Resources exports are forecast to fall to around $256bn in 2020-21, due to factors such as an expected fall in the iron ore price and the resumption of shipments from Brazil. This will see Australia’s iron ore exports fall to $65.5bn in 2020-21, compared with expectations of $84bn in the current financial year. Gold exports are tipped to reach a new high of $27.8bn in 2019-20, before falling to $25.9bn in 2020-21.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE

Haoma Mining – Chairman’s address to shareholders, by Gary Morgan, Wednesday December 18, 2019

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Original article by
Haoma Mining NL Announcements – Page: Online : 19-Dec-19

Yesterday at Haoma Mining’s AGM, Chairman Gary Morgan presented information on Haoma’s activities, including recent Test Work at Bamboo Creek. Included in the information was the report that over the last 7 days a Vat Leach Trial at Bamboo Creek processed a sample of 1.425 tonnes of course (+180 microns to -3mm) Kitchener Low Grade Ore using the Elazac Leach Process. The ‘calculated’ gold grade (based on the Elazac Assay Method) was 37.39 g/t gold. Shareholders were reminded that the Bamboo Creek Vat contains 28,000 tonnes of crushed course Kitchener Low Grade ore and leaching should be operating early next year.

CORPORATES
HAOMA MINING NL

Northern Star shines in $1.2bn Super Pit

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 18-Dec-19

Northern Star Resources will finance the acquisition of Newmont Goldcorp’s 50 per cent stake in Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit gold mine via a $765m share placement, a $50m share purchase plan and a $480m debt facility. Executive chairman Bill Beament says Northern Star hopes to bring forward an underground expansion of the mine, subject to approval from new joint venture partner Saracen Mineral Holdings. The latter recently acquired Barrick Gold’s stake in the Super Pit.

CORPORATES
NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX NST, NEWMONT GOLDCORP CORPORATION, SARACEN MINERAL HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SAR, BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION

Cyber squatters nab South32, poke their tongue at BHP

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 10-Dec-14

BHP Billiton has ruled out buying the South32.com domain name, which is owned by a company based in Malibu. It is believed to have demanded $A10m to surrender the name. BHP recently revealed South32 as the name of the spin-off that will hold its non-core assets, and says it was not willing to pay the price being sought by the domain name’s owner. Experts say BHP should have ensured that it owned the .com domain as well as related domain names

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, .AU DOMAIN ADMINISTRATION LIMITED, FABULOUS DOMAINS, DARK BLUE SEA LIMITED, KARI BIAN FILM COMPANY, SOUTH32 LIMITED, NTEGRITY PTY LTD

Rio cool on Albanese solar smelter talk

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 16-Dec-19

Rio Tinto has indicated that it is considering all options to ensure the viability of its aluminium smelters in Australia and New Zealand, amid growing concern that they may be closed. However, the resources giant has downplayed suggestions that it may seek to switch the carbon-intensive smelters from coal to solar energy. Labor leader Anthony Albanese recently visited the Boyne smelter in Queensland, and said he had been told that Rio was looking at transitioning the plant to renewables.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY